The passionate pursuit of nothing



It's good to be passionate. There is way too much apathy and ennui and aimlessness in the world today. I know that maintaining zeal and zest and fervor are my biggest challenges on a daily basis. But passion, despite what some Christians might seem to imply, is not enough. As in, "even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat" and "I climbed the ladder of success and found it was leaning against the wrong wall." Or as the Apostle Paul said of some of his Jewish contemporaries, "they have zeal, but it's a zeal without knowledge". Take this guy for example:

"a Houston native who goes by the name Winter ... set out in 1997 to get a caffeinated drink at every corporate-owned Starbucks store on the planet ... as of Aug. 8, he had visited 4,775 Starbucks in North America and 213 in other parts of world. Outside of North America, Winter has gone to Starbucks in Spain, England, France and Japan. There are 5,715 corporate-owned Starbucks in the world..." (full story ).




Well, maybe I shouldn't be judgmental since people think I'm a few shots short of an espresso myself, given my habit of running ridiculously long races. And maybe I'll run into him some day: according to his website , he still hasn't been to my Starbucks (Churn Creek at Cypress)! But "Winter" (he goes by the one name only) illustrates a man whose obsession, while passionate, is ultimately futility, vanity, nothingness.

There are two ways to go wrong in life and only one way to get it right. You can live without purpose or passion- if that is your life you need to wake up and live ("if I should wake before I die..."). You can live passionately for the wrong things, or even for good things that aren't the best things. No one ever said on his deathbed, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." Or you can live passionately for that which is most valuable and meaningful in life.

The relentless pursuit of what? Nothing? The wrong thing(s)? Or true excellence?

Don't let "Winter" be a metaphor for your life. "Every time I reach a Starbucks I feel like I've accomplished something," Winter said, "when actually I have accomplished nothing."

Posted: Thu - September 8, 2005 at 01:31 AM          

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